TempusCCK
2007-05-22, 05:42 PM
Favored Enemy Variants
-The Ranger has always been a class that has thoroughly impressed me. With a decent selection of skills, as well as a fairly comprehensive set of class features, it is a good choice for any base character class. Except for Favored Enemy, which is a class feature so without merit the likes of it have never been seen again in all the multitude of crappy overpowering source books that have been published over the years. With a grand total of 32 subtypes available for all enemies in D&D, a level 20 Ranger can have for his favored enemys a mere 5, meaning that if he encountered every type of enemy in the game at some point, he would only be actually effective 15% of the time. Frankly, this is a poor excuse for a class feature.-
Favored Enemy is a feature based on the Rangers knowledge of his foe and their anatomy, tactics, culture, squishy parts etc. etc. This reworking of the favored enemy will use this assertion as its base principle and go from there.-
Rangers are hunters and trackers at home in the wilderness, by experience and careful study of certain enemies the Ranger can better understand their anatomy, tactics, and culture gaining a competence bonus on certain checks and rolls made against his favored enemies.
More Bang For Your Buck Variant
Same as favored enemy found in PHB, except at 1st, 5th, and every 5 levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th), a Ranger can choose to add a favored enemy or increase the favored enemy bonus a number of times equal to his intelligence modifier. The Ranger may also apply his Favored Enemy bonus to Intimidate, and Diplomacy checks in addition to those already allowed in the PHB.
EX: Vincent is a 5th level Ranger with an intelligence score of 15, at first level he chose as his Favored Enemies Monstrous Humanoids and Undead, giving him a +2 competence bonus against enemies with those as their types. At 5th Level Vincent chooses to increase his Undead favored enemy to +4, and he will also add Aberrations to his list of favored enemies, resulting in an Undead +4, Monstrous Humanoids +2, Aberrations +2. At level 8, Vincent increases his Intelligence score to 16, increasing his modifier to +3. Now, at level 10, Vincent can add three more monster types to his list of favored enemies, or he could boost the three he already has to a +6, +4, +4. Or any combinations of the former, as long as his number of additions do not exceed his intelligence modifier.
You may only boost the bonuses of a favored enemy once every 5 levels.
-This is a very good, very simple fix, allowing for much more customization of the Ranger class, while still somewhat limiting the abuse that a more powerful Favored Enemy fix might allow.-
Sharp Mind Variant
At 1st level, 3rd, and every 3 levels thereafter (6th, 9th, 12th ,15th,18th) you may choose one favored enemy from the list of Ranger favored enemies You may now choose to add your intelligence modifier, if any, as a competence bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks and attack and damage rolls against creatures of this type as well as Reflex and Will saves where the DC is set by a creature of the same type as the Rangers Favored Enemy.
-This is a system where the Ranger will have a few more choices of favored enemies, but will be much less effective against them all. This is a good system for archery Rangers who’ve built characters around ranged weapons, allowing them to add a modifier to the damage. This system also allows you to apply your intelligence modifier to a few extra checks and rolls.-
½ Rank Variant
At 1st level, a Ranger may choose a number of favored enemies equal to his intelligence modifier. These types and subtypes become the current Rangers Favored Enemies. At 2nd level, and every 2 levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th), the Ranger may change his Favored Enemies as long as the number of them to not exceed his intelligence modifier.
Each level the Ranger gets to adjust his choices of favored enemies, he also gains a number of Favored Enemy points equal to ½ his Ranger level plus his intelligence modifier. A first level Ranger starts out with 1 Rank in each of his Favored Enemies. These point can be added to any individual subtype of the Rangers current favored enemies, as long as the number of ranks in each favored enemy does not exceed the Rangers current Ranger level. These Ranks can be added as a competence bonus to any Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks, as well as any damage rolls against creatures of the favored enemies subtype.
When a Ranger chooses to lose a favored enemy for another, any and all ranks in that favored enemy slot are lost, a Ranger must invest at least one point into the newest Favored Enemy.
Ex: Vincent is a 2nd level Ranger with an intelligence score of 15, equating to 2 favored enemies. At first level he chose Undead and Humanoids (Humans) as his Favored Enemies, each with 1 Rank. At second level, he now has 3 points with which to spend on his Favored Enemies, he increases his rank in each one to 2, equal to his Ranger level, and cannot add anymore. At 4th level, Vincent increases his intelligence to 16, granting him a +3 modifier. Vincent adds Aberrations to his Favored Enemy list, and chooses to keep his Undead and Humanoid (Humans), each with 2 ranks. He gets 5 points (2 from his Ranger levels, 3 from his intelligence) to work with at 4th level, and he chooses to put two into Aberrations, 2 into Undead, and the last into Humanoid (Humans), equating to an Undead +4, Humanoid (Humans) +3, and Aberrations +2. At 6th level, Vincent decides to drop Humans from his Favored enemies in favor of Monstrous Humanoids. As well, at 6th level, Vincent has 6 points to invest into his favored enemies. 1 Rank at least has to be given to Monstrous Humanoids, but he can distribute the others as he wishes. He chooses to invest 4 ranks in Monstrous Humanoids, and bring his undead Favored Enemy bonus up to 6. Equating to Undead +6, Monstrous Humanoids +4 and Aberrations +2.
-This Variant of the Favored Enemy is much more complex, but allows for a good balance of favored enemy strength and choices, and is almost wholly dependant on Rangers levels and Intelligence score, experience and study of the type. The more intelligence and levels the Ranger has, the more effective he will be against the few Favored Enemies he has. Keep in mind while the bonus’s for this may seem pretty hefty, your average Ranger isn’t going to have more than 4 or 5 Favored Enemies, and in a good campaign with many varied enemies, he’ll be less likely to put those steep bonus’s to work.-
¼ Rank Variant
At 1st level, a Ranger may choose a number of favored enemies equal to his intelligence modifier. These types and subtypes become the current Rangers Favored Enemies. At 4rd level, and every 3 levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), the Ranger may change his Favored Enemies as long as the number of them to not exceed his intelligence modifier.
Each level the Ranger gets to adjust his choices of favored enemies, he also gains a number of Favored Enemy points equal to ¼ his Ranger level plus his intelligence modifier. A first level Ranger starts out with 1 Rank in each of his Favored Enemies. These point can be added to any individual subtype of the Rangers current favored enemies, as long as the number of ranks in each favored enemy does not exceed the Rangers current Ranger level. These Ranks can be added as a competence bonus to any Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks, as well as any damage rolls against creatures of the favored enemies subtype.
When a Ranger chooses to lose a favored enemy for another, any and all ranks in that favored enemy slot are lost; a Ranger must invest at least one point into the newest Favored Enemy.
Ex: Vincent is a 4th level Ranger with an intelligence of 15, his favored enemies are Undead and Aberrations, each with 1 Rank. At 4th level, he gains 3 points with which to deal out to his Favored Enemy slots. He invests 2 points into Undead, bringing the bonus to a +3, and 1 point in Aberrations a +2. At 8th Level, Vincent has an intelligence of 16, bringing his modifier to 3, he adds Animals to his favored enemies to reflect this new score, and now has 5 points to distribute (2 from Ranger levels, 3 from intelligence). He must put at least 1 into his new Favored Enemy, and distribute the other four as he pleases. He chooses to bring Undead to a +6, requiring 3 points, and puts the others equally to the other two, +3 Aberrations and +1 Animals.
-The ¼ Variant is a little less powerful than the ½ and may be a safer bet in some campaigns, though the number of Favored Enemies is still somewhat limited, and you’ll still get a decent bonus on each.-
-These Favored Enemy Variants were created for the purpose of increasing the Rangers usefulness and the flavor to a place where I am happy with it, though some of the bonus’s may be a little steep, especially with the ½ Rank Variant, I feel these four give you a good array of options with which to buff up the normally sub-optimal Favored Enemy skill. “Sharp Mind” is meant to function much like the Paladin’s “Divine Grace”, whereas the ½ and ¼ Rank systems are much like adding a specially restricted skill to the Rangers list.-
-Any of these intelligence-based variants are completely interchangable with wisdom as well, instead of a Ranger basing his knowledge on careful study and intellect, he would be drawing his conclusions, and the subsequent circumstance bonus's, from his wealth of experience and conclusions he's drawn from his extensive adventuring, allowing them instead to use his wisdom modifier in place of any intelligence-based statistic above.-
-The Ranger has always been a class that has thoroughly impressed me. With a decent selection of skills, as well as a fairly comprehensive set of class features, it is a good choice for any base character class. Except for Favored Enemy, which is a class feature so without merit the likes of it have never been seen again in all the multitude of crappy overpowering source books that have been published over the years. With a grand total of 32 subtypes available for all enemies in D&D, a level 20 Ranger can have for his favored enemys a mere 5, meaning that if he encountered every type of enemy in the game at some point, he would only be actually effective 15% of the time. Frankly, this is a poor excuse for a class feature.-
Favored Enemy is a feature based on the Rangers knowledge of his foe and their anatomy, tactics, culture, squishy parts etc. etc. This reworking of the favored enemy will use this assertion as its base principle and go from there.-
Rangers are hunters and trackers at home in the wilderness, by experience and careful study of certain enemies the Ranger can better understand their anatomy, tactics, and culture gaining a competence bonus on certain checks and rolls made against his favored enemies.
More Bang For Your Buck Variant
Same as favored enemy found in PHB, except at 1st, 5th, and every 5 levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th), a Ranger can choose to add a favored enemy or increase the favored enemy bonus a number of times equal to his intelligence modifier. The Ranger may also apply his Favored Enemy bonus to Intimidate, and Diplomacy checks in addition to those already allowed in the PHB.
EX: Vincent is a 5th level Ranger with an intelligence score of 15, at first level he chose as his Favored Enemies Monstrous Humanoids and Undead, giving him a +2 competence bonus against enemies with those as their types. At 5th Level Vincent chooses to increase his Undead favored enemy to +4, and he will also add Aberrations to his list of favored enemies, resulting in an Undead +4, Monstrous Humanoids +2, Aberrations +2. At level 8, Vincent increases his Intelligence score to 16, increasing his modifier to +3. Now, at level 10, Vincent can add three more monster types to his list of favored enemies, or he could boost the three he already has to a +6, +4, +4. Or any combinations of the former, as long as his number of additions do not exceed his intelligence modifier.
You may only boost the bonuses of a favored enemy once every 5 levels.
-This is a very good, very simple fix, allowing for much more customization of the Ranger class, while still somewhat limiting the abuse that a more powerful Favored Enemy fix might allow.-
Sharp Mind Variant
At 1st level, 3rd, and every 3 levels thereafter (6th, 9th, 12th ,15th,18th) you may choose one favored enemy from the list of Ranger favored enemies You may now choose to add your intelligence modifier, if any, as a competence bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks and attack and damage rolls against creatures of this type as well as Reflex and Will saves where the DC is set by a creature of the same type as the Rangers Favored Enemy.
-This is a system where the Ranger will have a few more choices of favored enemies, but will be much less effective against them all. This is a good system for archery Rangers who’ve built characters around ranged weapons, allowing them to add a modifier to the damage. This system also allows you to apply your intelligence modifier to a few extra checks and rolls.-
½ Rank Variant
At 1st level, a Ranger may choose a number of favored enemies equal to his intelligence modifier. These types and subtypes become the current Rangers Favored Enemies. At 2nd level, and every 2 levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th), the Ranger may change his Favored Enemies as long as the number of them to not exceed his intelligence modifier.
Each level the Ranger gets to adjust his choices of favored enemies, he also gains a number of Favored Enemy points equal to ½ his Ranger level plus his intelligence modifier. A first level Ranger starts out with 1 Rank in each of his Favored Enemies. These point can be added to any individual subtype of the Rangers current favored enemies, as long as the number of ranks in each favored enemy does not exceed the Rangers current Ranger level. These Ranks can be added as a competence bonus to any Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks, as well as any damage rolls against creatures of the favored enemies subtype.
When a Ranger chooses to lose a favored enemy for another, any and all ranks in that favored enemy slot are lost, a Ranger must invest at least one point into the newest Favored Enemy.
Ex: Vincent is a 2nd level Ranger with an intelligence score of 15, equating to 2 favored enemies. At first level he chose Undead and Humanoids (Humans) as his Favored Enemies, each with 1 Rank. At second level, he now has 3 points with which to spend on his Favored Enemies, he increases his rank in each one to 2, equal to his Ranger level, and cannot add anymore. At 4th level, Vincent increases his intelligence to 16, granting him a +3 modifier. Vincent adds Aberrations to his Favored Enemy list, and chooses to keep his Undead and Humanoid (Humans), each with 2 ranks. He gets 5 points (2 from his Ranger levels, 3 from his intelligence) to work with at 4th level, and he chooses to put two into Aberrations, 2 into Undead, and the last into Humanoid (Humans), equating to an Undead +4, Humanoid (Humans) +3, and Aberrations +2. At 6th level, Vincent decides to drop Humans from his Favored enemies in favor of Monstrous Humanoids. As well, at 6th level, Vincent has 6 points to invest into his favored enemies. 1 Rank at least has to be given to Monstrous Humanoids, but he can distribute the others as he wishes. He chooses to invest 4 ranks in Monstrous Humanoids, and bring his undead Favored Enemy bonus up to 6. Equating to Undead +6, Monstrous Humanoids +4 and Aberrations +2.
-This Variant of the Favored Enemy is much more complex, but allows for a good balance of favored enemy strength and choices, and is almost wholly dependant on Rangers levels and Intelligence score, experience and study of the type. The more intelligence and levels the Ranger has, the more effective he will be against the few Favored Enemies he has. Keep in mind while the bonus’s for this may seem pretty hefty, your average Ranger isn’t going to have more than 4 or 5 Favored Enemies, and in a good campaign with many varied enemies, he’ll be less likely to put those steep bonus’s to work.-
¼ Rank Variant
At 1st level, a Ranger may choose a number of favored enemies equal to his intelligence modifier. These types and subtypes become the current Rangers Favored Enemies. At 4rd level, and every 3 levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), the Ranger may change his Favored Enemies as long as the number of them to not exceed his intelligence modifier.
Each level the Ranger gets to adjust his choices of favored enemies, he also gains a number of Favored Enemy points equal to ¼ his Ranger level plus his intelligence modifier. A first level Ranger starts out with 1 Rank in each of his Favored Enemies. These point can be added to any individual subtype of the Rangers current favored enemies, as long as the number of ranks in each favored enemy does not exceed the Rangers current Ranger level. These Ranks can be added as a competence bonus to any Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks, as well as any damage rolls against creatures of the favored enemies subtype.
When a Ranger chooses to lose a favored enemy for another, any and all ranks in that favored enemy slot are lost; a Ranger must invest at least one point into the newest Favored Enemy.
Ex: Vincent is a 4th level Ranger with an intelligence of 15, his favored enemies are Undead and Aberrations, each with 1 Rank. At 4th level, he gains 3 points with which to deal out to his Favored Enemy slots. He invests 2 points into Undead, bringing the bonus to a +3, and 1 point in Aberrations a +2. At 8th Level, Vincent has an intelligence of 16, bringing his modifier to 3, he adds Animals to his favored enemies to reflect this new score, and now has 5 points to distribute (2 from Ranger levels, 3 from intelligence). He must put at least 1 into his new Favored Enemy, and distribute the other four as he pleases. He chooses to bring Undead to a +6, requiring 3 points, and puts the others equally to the other two, +3 Aberrations and +1 Animals.
-The ¼ Variant is a little less powerful than the ½ and may be a safer bet in some campaigns, though the number of Favored Enemies is still somewhat limited, and you’ll still get a decent bonus on each.-
-These Favored Enemy Variants were created for the purpose of increasing the Rangers usefulness and the flavor to a place where I am happy with it, though some of the bonus’s may be a little steep, especially with the ½ Rank Variant, I feel these four give you a good array of options with which to buff up the normally sub-optimal Favored Enemy skill. “Sharp Mind” is meant to function much like the Paladin’s “Divine Grace”, whereas the ½ and ¼ Rank systems are much like adding a specially restricted skill to the Rangers list.-
-Any of these intelligence-based variants are completely interchangable with wisdom as well, instead of a Ranger basing his knowledge on careful study and intellect, he would be drawing his conclusions, and the subsequent circumstance bonus's, from his wealth of experience and conclusions he's drawn from his extensive adventuring, allowing them instead to use his wisdom modifier in place of any intelligence-based statistic above.-